KUALA LUMPUR (May 26): KPJ Healthcare Bhd's first quarter net profit rose 12% to RM38.27 million from RM34.17 million a year earlier as the hospital operator's revenue increased on its Malaysia, Australia and Bangladesh operations.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, KPJ said revenue climbed to RM793.91 million from RM743.95 million.

"The Malaysia segment reported revenue of RM750.0 million, increase by 6% from RM707.6 million in the same quarter in 2016. Revenue from Australia segment was reported at RM14.7 million, increased by 35% as compared to revenue in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year which was reported at RM10.9 million," KPJ said.

KPJ said "the Indonesia segment reported a slight decrease in revenue of RM13.1 million as compared to the revenue of RM13.6 million in the preceding year."

In Bangladesh, KPJ said its hospital KPJ Dhaka's revenue rose RM1.2 million on additional hospital services.

Looking ahead, KPJ said it was optimistic on its business outlook on expectation of revenue growth from existing and new hospitals.

"For the financial year ending 31 December 2017, the group is confident that the revenue from the matured and new hospitals will continue to improve and foresee that our results will be improving in tandem with more new hospitals completing their gestation period," KPJ said.